


The Tybur Family Ordeal

by bertererei



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Crack, M/M, Meant for comedic purposes, OOC, Please just laugh, Stalkerish Tendencies, discrimination against Eldians, light manga spoilers, romcom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22138768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertererei/pseuds/bertererei
Summary: Anyone who has ever met Willy Tybur can without hesitation tell you of his stalkerish crush on the Warrior Candidate, Eren Jaeger. What they won’t be able to say with certainty, however, is whether or not that feeling is reciprocated.But recently, Willy is starting to think he has a chance.
Relationships: Willy Tybur/Eren Yeager
Comments: 17
Kudos: 97
Collections: Just sum of ma fav Aot Fic





	The Tybur Family Ordeal

**Author's Note:**

> As I am dealing with Marley Arc characters (even though this is an AU), there will be light manga spoilers in this story. Nothing from the most recent chapters. But if you know about the Tybur Family, you'll be fine.
> 
> A small request from whelp here we go for winning _you’ve begun to feel like home_ game. They asked for a Willy x Eren that was similar to that one. And since we already have an “Eren pretends to be a Marleyan in a Zeke-Eren swap” story, let’s have an “Eren becomes a Warrior in a Zeke-Eren swap” story! No, I don’t have yet another Zeke-Eren swap story planned after this. S-shut up. Don’t look at me.
> 
> So even though the basic premise is similar to that of _you’ve begun to feel like home,_ there are some glaringly obvious differences here. And for those who haven’t read that story, when I say Zeke-Eren swap, that means Eren is 10 years older and was one of the kids who were part of the initial Warrior Division while Zeke is an innocent child within the walls in Paradis. As part of this change, Carla is the one in Liberio and Dina is the one in Paradis. 
> 
> But all of this detail won’t be playing a role in this story, so uh… haha… just suspend your disbelief and laugh at the silly shenanigans, okay? There's absolutely nothing serious here. And if you wanted something serious, I'm so sorry, whelp here we go. This was the best that I could do. >_>
> 
> Warnings: Zeke-Eren Swap AU. Willy x Eren. Manga spoilers. RomCom. OCs. OOC. Discrimination against Eldians. Meant for comedic purposes. Please just laugh. Stalkerish tendencies.

There is just one non-Tybur Eldian who has ever set foot inside of the Tybur Family Mansion since it was built. But Willy gets the feeling that Eren doesn’t realize just what kind of honor this is.

“Bathroom?” Eren asks, glaring at Willy as if this is all his fault.

“Down the hall to the left,” the butler informs him.

Eren nods and bolts towards the direction, throwing a light thank you behind him along the way. The butler of the Tybur Family slowly turns to Willy with an elegant raised brow.

“Young Master, is that…?” the butler trails off to let Willy fill in the blank.

Even though there isn’t a trace of accusation in the butler’s voice, Willy finds himself blushing anyways.

“I-it is.”

The butler nods professionally without letting any kind of judgement show on his face. But Willy rushes to explain himself anyways.

“I-I didn’t kidnap him or anything. He had to use the bathroom. That’s why he’s here. N-not because I tricked him or anything.”

“Indeed, Young Master.” 

Willy nods. “T-that’s right. I-it’s not because I fed him something weird so he had no choice but to come over to use the bathroom. I-I wouldn’t be so cruel as to do something like that just to bring him home!”

He covers his face. Damn it. He blew it. So much for keeping it a secret. Why did he just blurt that out like that? Ugh, this is so embarrassing! What the hell was he thinking?

The butler coughs into his hand, but he can’t fool Willy. He’s hiding his laughter while pretending to cough. Fine! Fine! Laugh! Willy knows he’s being pathetic, but how else was he supposed to bring Eren home if not through underhanded methods?

“D-don’t tell him,” he mumbles.

“I don’t know what you mean, sir,” the butler says, faithful as ever. “What’s there to tell? You didn’t just kidnap Marley’s most prized weapon to our mansion for your own personal reasons.”

Willy feels his cheeks burn. Did the butler really have to phrase it like that? There are much better way to have said that, isn’t there? Yeah, Willy himself didn’t exactly say it in a way that’s flattering. But that’s no need for the butler to tease him like this!

“Don’t worry, Young Master. I’ll inform the rest of the staff accordingly.”

Please don’t!

“Y-you don’t have to go that far-”

“If I recall correctly, Sir Jaeger enjoys eating sweet things, correct? Should we set up the tea and sweets in the study?”

Willy drops his hands from his face to turn to the butler with a huge grin on his face. “Yeah! That’d be awesome! Thanks!”

*

Everyone who knows Willy will doubtlessly call him a stalker. And to be honest, he doesn’t even blame them. 

It’s been ten years since the Warrior Division was first established. For seven of those years, Willy only had eyes for Eren Jaeger. Still do, in fact. He suspects that he’ll probably never look at another person the way he will continue to look at Eren, but that’s really neither here nor there.

His dad claims that this is all because of his uncle, who was the Tybur Family Head at the time of the Warrior Division’s founding. His uncle had a harsh stance against the Warrior Division due to his personal belief that children should not be inheritors of titans (The older Willy becomes, the more he begins to understand his uncle’s feelings). He believed Eldians foolish enough to sell their children to Marley for the sake of “Honorary Marleyan” status were lower than trash and forbade any kind of interaction with them. The Warrior Division, Willy’s dad claims, turned into something quite like a forbidden fruit to Willy. 

His sister claims that this is all because of his mom. Since the Warrior Division was a taboo in their household, Willy turned to a rather extreme method in hopes of meeting a Warrior Candidate. He faked being sick to sneak out of the house. Lara claims that his fake illness was obvious to everyone, but his mom found it cute, so she let him rest. And that, you see, is how he ended up meeting Eren Jaeger for the first time while he was crying in the alleyway behind the Warrior Headquarter due to the scary Marleyans that prevented him from getting any closer. And yup, you guessed it. This is when his obsession began.

His mom claims that this is all because of his dad, who became the Tybur Family Head after his uncle passed away (By the way, his dad is still the Head now). After all, until this moment in time, the Tybur Family kept their distance from the Warrior Division. But (possibly because of Willy’s whining and begging) his dad decided to celebrate the next Warrior Division’s successful mission with a party. One thing led to another, and Willy found himself tackling Eren down to the ground and scattering the food that was on the tray that Eren was carrying, which led to Eren punching him and… Well, that’s not really important right now.

The important part is that their first two meetings were electrifying and made such a strong enough impact that everyone within the vicinity (and later through rumors) came to understand that Eren Jaeger is most definitely Willy’s. Okay, fine. The conclusion was more close to “Willy Tybur is stalking that Warrior Candidate,” but that’s like the same thing. And it got rid of any potential annoying flies around Eren within seconds. 

The only thing it (and the rest of their seven years together) failed to do is woo Eren.

But that’s all just fine. 

Willy is a patient person. And his 15 year plan (it used to be 2 years. Then 5. Then 9. Then… you get the idea) to get Eren to fall in love with him is most definitely going to work out.

*

“Wow, you spent forever and a half in the bathroom! The tea’s gotten cold now,” Willy says as greeting when Eren is forcibly dragged into the study.

The tea has been set up with a small plate full of sugar cubes for Eren. There’s also a three-tier snack display raging from small cakes to cookies to fruits. Willy is certain that Eren has never tasted nor seen anything like this before, because he was completely caught off-guard when Lara mentioned it last month after her tea party hosted by Lady Peri. Not even Eren will be able to say no to such delicacy!

“Whose damned fault is that?” Eren growls lowly.

He stands awkwardly by the couch, making no move to sit down. Willy does see Eren sneak a glance at the sweets laid out before him, but Eren’s pride must be preventing him from saying anything about it. Instead, he just glowers at Willy like he’s blaming the entire world’s problem on Willy.

Well, to be fair, Eren probably isn’t that far off. The Tybur Family has a hand in quite a lot of global issues, after all.

“Come on, Eren. Don’t be a stranger. Sit with me.”

Willy pats the couch space next to himself and earns a scornful scowl in return. 

“You can eat these with me. I mean, I can’t finish it all by myself, you know?” Willy tries.

There’s the slightest bit of hesitation as Eren glances at the sweets. Willy sees it. How much Eren is struggling to come up with an excuse why he should leave. And isn’t that the cutest thing? It used to be that Eren wouldn’t even blink twice at the sight of sweets in front of him. But starting from some time last year, he started to waver like this. And to make things even sweeter, Eren actually accepted what Willy offered, which is what prompted this entire situation in the first place.

“If you don’t help me, we’ll have no choice but to throw them away.”

Eren lets out a heavy sigh like this is a chore. But he sits down in the loveseat opposite of Willy’s couch. He can pretend all he wants, but Willy sees the way Eren brightens when he modestly picks up a cookie to bite into. There’s the cutest little smile on Eren’s face that Willy regrets not capturing with a camera. Maybe it’s not too late? They still have a lot of sweets left. Surely, Eren will smile like that again?

“W-what?” Eren demands, face flushing when he realizes that Willy is staring.

“Just thinking that you would have refused me if this was two years ago.”

Eren rolls his eyes. “Oh, shut it.” 

Seeing that he doesn’t actually have a comeback, Willy finds himself laughing. 

“I said, shut it!”

What an adorable blush on his face. Eren was like this when they first met, too. When Willy asked him to be his friend, Eren blushed red and yelled out, “Don’t fool around! Who would believe that kind of a lie?” 

If he thinks about it that way, Willy might have fallen in love with how cute Eren’s blushing face was.

“This is pretty good,” Eren remarks lightly as he picks up another cookie.

“You can have more than just that… Oh, let me ask someone to heat up your tea for you.”

Hm? Just now. Eren made an annoyed expression. Does he not want tea? Perhaps he prefers coffee? But it’s late in the afternoon, so isn’t this kind of a bad time to drink coffee?

“You know what, I just remembered something,” Eren says. 

He shoves the rest of the cookie in his mouth and stands up. And huh? Wait. Wait. Why is he leaving? They’ve just barely gotten to talk! There’s still plenty of sweets and tea. Did something make Eren uncomfortable?

“W-wait! W-we didn’t even talk! W-where are you going?”

“Home.”

Then Eren’s gone, ignoring the rest of Willy’s shouts at him to stay.

*

It’s okay. It’s okay.

Willy has accounted for all of this as part of his 15 year plan. In fact, the fact that Eren stayed for as long as he did, eating two cookies, is something that should be celebrated. 

He is celebrating.

“You are totally sulking,” Lara says, shaking her head. 

She’s in the study with him, helping him finish the sweets along with the other maids and butlers that happened to be nearby at the time. They all have looks on their faces that seem like they’re agreeing with Lara, even though he’s the one who invited all of them to eat with him.

“I just don’t understand! Just when I thought we were getting closer, he ran!”

“He probably waited for you to put your guard down before he could make his escape,” is his sister’s cold reply.

Willy drops his head in his hands and lets out a loud wail. “But that’s not fair! I just wanted to see him smile again!”

“But Young Master, he smiled for you today. That is already a vast improvement, is it not?” His ever reliable butler asks before biting into a strawberry tart.

T-that’s right! That is already an improvement! Combined with the fact that Eren actually set foot inside of the Tybur Mansion today, Willy is already making vast progress! He actually didn’t think he’d manage this far until at least the 13th year (Eren is a very shy person, you see)!

“Did he at least mention why he had to leave so suddenly?” one of the maids asks.

Willy shakes his head. “No. He said he remembered something, though.”

“That’s a sign that he was struggling to come up with an excuse and settled,” Lara points out.

Yeah, that’s what he feared. Willy feels his mood crash once more as he slumps on the couch.

“Am I not sincere enough?”

His sister nods. “You come across as an insincere scam artist.”

“Young Mistress, you mustn’t tease your brother so.”

But that’s not a confirmation nor a denial. Does he seem like a scam artist? Which part? How can he change it so that Eren can see just how serious Willy is about this? Hell, isn’t the fact that Willy hasn’t wavered in the last seven years enough? He honestly doesn’t know how else to be serious!

“Perhaps the problem is that you’re too direct,” one of the maids suggests. “In the romance novels I’ve read, when the person who always pushes pulls back, it becomes infuriatingly charming!”

… Is… that a good thing…?

“Ah, but you have to be careful when you do something like that. Sir Jaeger is the easily gullible type, so he might believe you’re not interested anymore,” another maid warns.

Then that defeats the whole purpose!

Lara sips her tea elegantly, watching the discussion. Then she chuckles softly and puts her tea down.

“There’s no need to do anything like that. Knowing my brother, he’ll lose Eren’s trust before his so-called ‘15 year plan’ ever comes to fruition.”

Please don’t say such scary things with so much certainty! 

His ever reliable butler tilts his head, thinking carefully. Then he asks, “Young Master, why don’t you try dialing back your intensity instead? You still show him interest as you have, but you don’t… put things in his food so that he’ll have no choice but to come over.”

“He did what?!”

… So much for being reliable… 

“But if I don’t do that, he’ll never say yes to me!” Willy whines.

Oh, all of their gazes toward him just turned cold. What? Did he say something weird?

“Young Master, if you ever get chains and a cage, I’m afraid I’ll have to turn my resignation letter,” one of the maids announces.

Wait, wait. Why are they jumping to chains and a cage? What are those for? 

“That’s where you draw the line?” Lara asks with a raised brow. “Frankly, if he wasn’t my brother, I would’ve already abandoned him.”

“Young Mistress, you should be more encouraging.”

No, no. Go back to the cage and chains.

“I feel like Sir Jaeger would look pretty good with a collar, though,” one of the maids admit in a soft whisper.

Another one squeals. “Oh, I totally get what you mean! He’s like a feral beast, not to mention so proud. If you put a collar on him, it’ll definitely be because he let you tame him! Kyaaaa! That’s so romantic!”

Is… it really romantic to put a collar on another human being…? Should… Willy offer to put one on Eren? He gets the feeling he’ll end up getting punched again if he tried that. But in the same breath, he thinks he understands where they’re coming from, even if he doesn’t think “feral beast” quite fits Eren. No, no. Eren’s more of a… a stray cat. One that has yet to trust other humans and is very wary of anyone being too friendly. Will there ever come a day when he’ll allow Willy to get close enough to pat him?

“Careful there, Willy. You look like you’re about to drool,” Lara says sharply.

Willy quickly wipes his mouth just in case she’s right, feeling his cheeks burn. “T-there’s nothing wrong with a bit of drool over delicious sweets.”

His sister shoots him a judging look, so he quickly looks away.

“Then, Young Master, why don’t you show off your cool side to Sir Jaeger for once?”

His… cool side? Willy tilts his head to the side, trying to think about what exactly is his cool side. 

“Pfft! And you say I should be encouraging!” Lara bursts out laughing. “Willy doesn’t have a cool side!”

And with a sinking feeling, Willy realizes that she’s right.

*

“I… have to have a cool side, don’t I?” Willy asks the gardener the next day.

He receives a small grunt in response that doesn’t sound like the gardener cares much of what he says. Although it might seem like that, he knows his gardener. She’s a woman of few words. According to his mom, that’s the reason why she hired her. 

_“She looked so cool when she wiped off her sweat after chopping wood. I just had to ask her to be our gardener!”_

As the story goes, Willy’s dad suddenly developed a hobby of chopping wood in the garden with his shirt off right in front of the window in Willy’s mom’s room soon afterwards. He eventually threw out his back doing that and was bed-ridden for a month. Willy’s mom nursed him back to health, and they have been lovey-dovey ever since. 

But Willy’s too young to remember such an occurrence. All he knows is that the gardener has been with their family since before the Warrior Division was established and before Willy fell hard for Eren. And any and all advice she has ever silently given him has worked out for the best.

“Everyone has a cool side, right? W-we just have to find it!”

The gardener pauses for a bit to stare at him. Then she points to the flowerbed.

“D-do you want my help with weeding?”

She shakes her head. Seeing that he doesn’t understand what she’s trying to say, she walks to the flowerbed and motions for Willy to follow. Then she snips a a few and holds it up for Willy to take.

“Oh! I get it! If I get him flowers, he’ll be charmed!”

There’s a soft smile on her face as she helps him pick the prettiest flowers for Eren.

*

Eren is surely going to blush at the sight of Willy with a bouquet of flowers. Knowing Eren as well as he does, he’ll probably scowl and yell at Willy for coming to the Warrior Division uninvited again. But Willy brought a bag of lunch for them as well, so Eren won’t completely shut him out, right?

“Oh, it’s Mr. Tybur.”

The Warrior Division received some new members a few years back (All small children between the ages of 5 to 7. Guess Marley never learned their lesson despite how many of their previous Warrior Candidates died during missions despite Eren doing his best to prevent that). According to Eren, they’re cute little brats. Willy agrees with the brat part, but he’s not at all sure about the “cute” part. 

“I keep telling you guys to call me Willy,” he says cheerfully.

It, as always, goes ignored. 

“Are you here to harass Eren again? Don’t you get tired of always being rejected?”

“Jeesh, aren’t people supposed to get smarter with age? He’s not interested. Back off.”

“Did you serious bring bunch of weeds for a bouquet? Isn’t your family supposed to be rich? And this is all you could afford?”

“No wonder Eren hates you.”

See what Willy means? They’re not cute little brats. They’re monsters in kid shape. They’re horribly mean, even more so than his sister. Lara at least has the excuse of being related to him, so it's fine if she's mean. But these kids? Why are they so rude? Who taught them manners?

“N-now, now,” he tries with a strained smile on his face. “That’s not very nice.”

“Rose said it’s fine to be not nice to a stalker.”

Damn that guy.

There are three Warrior Candidates who made it intact since the founding of the division. Eren, Rosen, and Ria. According to the grapevine, these three are most likely to inherit the titans in the coming few years. Eren with the Armored, Rosen with the Jaw, and Ria with the Female. The rest of the titans will probably be given to these children. Personally, Willy would prefer it if Eren wasn’t given any titan so that he would have unlimited amount of time to spend with Willy. But he also knows the benefit of being able to heal while out on the battlefield to say something so selfish out loud.

“Rosen is a worse stalker than me,” Willy protests. “He actually follows Eren all the way home. I only do so when he’s outside the interment zone.”

“He only does that because he’s always getting injured. Eren’s place is a clinic.”

That much, Willy knew. But that’s also really not fair. The Tybur Family have their own in-house doctor that was hired during Willy’s uncle’s time. So Willy never had the pleasure of stopping by the Jaeger Clinic for a check-up like the rest of the Eldians that live in Liberio. If Willy wasn’t a Tybur or if they didn’t have their own doctor, he would most definitely have made up illness all the time so he could go see Eren, too.

“You don’t think it’s suspicious that he’s always getting injured?” Willy tries.

The teasing mood suddenly disappears. Willy realizes with a start that there’s something more going on than Rosen’s bad excuse to go over to Eren’s house. Is… that guy actually sick? Huh? Then shouldn’t they hurry and give him a titan so that he can heal himself? 

“Well, it’s none of your business, outsider!”

“Yeah, you’re an outsider!”

“You don’t get to know!”

Well, that’s just fine. Willy isn’t interested in learning more about Rosen anyways! He’s here for Eren. When he mentions that, the kids all give him disgusted looks and points at him.

“Perverted stalker!”

He honestly doesn’t understand what part of these kids are “cute.”

*

Eren’s cheeks go red when he sees Willy. How cute is that? As expected, Eren scowls, but oddly enough, he looks kind of happy about something. Or at least, that's how Willy's interpreting that emotion on Eren's face.

Willy finds it a thousand times more adorable than these little monsters that dare call him a pervert. Stalker? Yes, yes, he is. But a pervert? For shame! Willy’s goal in meeting Eren isn’t doing… d-dirty things. He just wants to see Eren smile. And maybe blush. A-and… Okay, let’s leave this train of thought here before he goes somewhere he shouldn’t while out in public.

“I brought us lunch! Let’s eat together!” Willy says, holding his bouquet of flowers out for Eren to take.

“W-why would you do that? I have my own lunch.”

“But I want to eat with you.”

Eren looks like he’s debating something in his head. Then he lets out a soft sigh and gives the smallest of nods.

“Don’t turn this into a habit,” he warns.

But this is more than Eren has ever allowed Willy to have before. 

The flowers, Willy thinks as he thanks his gardener in his head, really is doing wonders.

*

“Did you solve whatever problem you had to take care of yesterday?” Willy asks.

There’s a blank look on Eren’s face. So Lara was right. It was just a random excuse Eren thought of to get out of an uncomfortable situation. But if that was true, then why did Eren agree to come to the study? Did he feel pressured? Then can Willy keep pressuring Eren until Eren becomes even just a little bit more interested in Willy?

“Remember? You had to leave so suddenly.”

Eren lets out a soft “Oh” in understanding. “T-that was…” 

“Yeah, I know. I made you uncomfortable, right?”

“Sorry,” Eren mumbles, looking away. “I… don’t know how to deal with rich people.”

… Huh? It’s not because Willy was too pushy?

“I know you have maids and butlers. And I know that they take care of the chores and things around your mansion. But I… don’t know how I’m supposed to face them. It’s weird as hell that they call me ‘Sir Jaeger!’ I’ve never been knighted. I’m not a knight! Why do they call me that?”

Probably because it’s really cute to see Eren get this flustered whenever anyone calls him 'Sir Jaeger' to his face. But if Willy says that out loud, Eren will probably shout at him. He doesn't think they've crossed the threshold to punching yet, you see.

“Warrior Candidate is pretty much a knight,” Willy says instead.

Eren shoots him an annoyed glare. “I bet you encourage them.”

He doesn’t actually. But since it’s cute, he never asked them to stop. Besides, it’ll be confusing if they were both “Young Masters.” At least this way, there’s some diversity in who is getting addressed. It's practice for when they start living together. Because, of course, Willy has plans for their eventual wedding. It's going to be in the summer with a lot of flowers to adorn the handsome suit Eren will wear. 

“They made this sandwich for you,” Willy says as he pulls it out of the container excitedly. “For their dashing knight!”

There’s an annoyed look on Eren’s face, but he accepts the sandwich. He takes a small bite and pauses, probably because of how good it tastes. That’s right. Don’t look down on Willy’s cook. He was kidnapped from his home country as a child and the Tybur Family took him in when he couldn’t make his way back home. To repay the Tybur family, Willy's cook learned how to make the most delicious food in the entire world.

“It’s delicious, right?” Willy asks with a huge grin on his face.

Eren’s cheeks dust red. He shoots Willy a glare before looking away. “S-shut up.”

Cute~ Eren is way too cute~

Willy chuckles to himself and bites into his own sandwich. His cook’s cooking is always delicious, but maybe it’s because Willy is looking at Eren’s blushing face, the food tastes especially good today. 

“Your inability to be honest is also really cute.”

“I-I am honest! It’s just you… c-catch me off-guard.”

It’s so rare for Eren to take the time to talk to Willy like this. It makes him feel so overjoyed that he feels his eyes begin to tear up. 

“W-why are you crying for?!” Eren snaps.

“B-but you’re never this nice to me!”

Eren looks a bit guilty as he glares at Willy. But if this means that Eren will continue to be this nice, Willy doesn’t mind that Eren feels a bit guilty.

“I’ll… t-try to be… n-nicer.”

Willy grins. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re falling in love with me, too.”

“I change my mind,” Eren growls as he returns the half-eaten sandwich. 

“Ahhh, don’t be like that! Don’t be like that!”

*

Today was most definitely a good day! 

Willy hums happily to himself as he heads out of the Warrior Headquarter with the empty container from lunch. He made sure to give his bouquet to a blushing Eren, so that’s all fine and well, too. He knows he can’t turn this into a habit. The Marleys will flip, and the last thing Willy wants is to make trouble for his family. But for a random occasion, he thinks that this isn’t too bad.

“Eh? That far away? Jeesh, is that Tybur kid going to be okay to be away from his precious Warrior Candidate for so long?”

Hm? Are these Marleyan soldiers talking about Willy? Wait. Far away…? Are they sending the Warrior Division on a long mission again? Now that he thinks about it, there hasn’t been a lot of long missions since the kids joined the division. Was that to get the kids used to things before they went far away?

Things are going to get lonely without Eren, huh?

“Why do you think they let him in today?”

“Pfft. To think even our higher ups will be worried for these idiots.”

“Goes to show just how much Jaeger wormed his way into their hearts.”

“Can’t be helped. Especially not after he risked his life to protect us on the frontlines… multiples times, too.”

“He’s not bad at all for an Eldian.”

Willy finds himself nodding along to the soldiers’ words, feeling proud. That’s right. That’s right. Eren is really cool. There’s no one quite like Eren. Even Marleyans acknowledge that. 

But at the same time, he feels a little… 

What the hell is he doing?

While Eren is going out there, bringing home victories like a hero, what is Willy doing?

All he has going for him is his family fortune. Without the Tybur name, would Willy even be someone that Eren notices? That anyone notices? What is Willy without his family? Unlike Eren who has made something of himself, carving out a space even in the hearts of Marleyans, what has Willy accomplished?

He makes his way home while mulling over these questions.

*

“I think while Eren is away on his next mission, I’m going to start paying more attention to the family business.”

His family all look at him in shock.

“What uh… what brought this on?” his mom asks with wide eyes.

“It’s just… Maybe Eren thought I wasn’t serious because I accomplished nothing in my life. He’s a well-known and well-loved person. Compared to that, I’m… Haven’t I just been coasting on my family name without knowing what that entails?”

Lara whistles lowly. “Wow. I never thought you actually cared. You are serious about Eren, aren’t you?”

He’s only been saying that for the last seven years!

“If that’s how you feel, then who am I to say no?” his dad asks with a soft smile. “But Willy, I don’t plan on going easy on you, so you have to keep up. Can you do that?”

“Yes!”

*

The only reason why the Warrior Division began to do official send-offs before they left on missions (particularly for longer ones) is probably because of Willy. After all, Eldians in general are not allowed to leave the interment zone, so it’s not like any of their families can make it out to the airfields. Looked at it that way, Willy feels more spoiled than usual. 

But there’s no time to feel ashamed. Not when he wants to tell Eren his resolve.

“H-huh?” Eren asks, sounding more confused than not.

“When you return, I’ll be a man worth standing next to. S-so you won’t be embarrassed by me anymore. When that time comes, won’t you please accept my invitation for a d-d-date?”

A second passes in stunned silence before Eren’s face flushes red. He covers his face, eyes darting quickly around as if to search for escape routes. Is it still no good? Does Eren still not believe in Willy’s sincerity? It’s because he stuttered, isn’t it? Then should Willy ask again? If he doesn’t stutter this time, Eren will believe him, right?

Just when Willy is about to repeat himself, Eren turns back to him with a scowl on his face.

“W-when I return, I-I promise to be less embarrassed by everything. So make sure to keep your word. I’ll… be looking forward to that date.”

It’s… it’s not a no? It’s not a no! It’s not a no!

Willy finds himself grinning brightly. He almost grabs Eren into a hug but stops himself in time. That’s for when Eren comes back. That’s for after Willy becomes a better man.

Already, Willy can’t wait for Eren to return.

“Oh, before I forget…” Willy pulls out the handkerchief he worked hard to embroider ever since he heard about this mission. “For good luck.”

Eren accepts it with an embarrassed flush and glances at Willy’s handiwork. And yeah, it’s not the best. It was Willy’s first time trying something like this. But he put his best effort in it anyways. So he’d be quite grateful if-

“T-thank you.”

Willy feels his lips pull into a silly grin. He wanted to be cool in front of Eren, but that’s impossible to do when Eren is this cute.

“Come back safely,” Willy says.

Eren nods, looking shy. “I will.”

*

Eight months.

Eren makes him wait eight months.

The minute their eyes meet, Eren’s face goes beet red, and he quickly looks away. Then he must have remembered their promise, because he turns back towards Willy with an embarrassed scowl. Willy thinks it’s because of how long it’s been since they last saw each other. But he finds it beyond endearing.

“H-hey,” Eren mumbles.

“Hey you,” Willy greets.

Eren seems to be thinking very hard about something and-

He grabs Willy by the front of his shirt and yanks him forward. The two stand, their noses just shy of brushing. The blush on Eren’s face seems to have deepened, but Willy’s pretty sure his own face is red. So he has no grounds to say anything.

“O-our d-d-date… w-when and where?”

… C-cute… That’s so insanely cute that Willy wants to hold Eren tightly in his arms and never let go. But before that, Willy needs to give Eren an answer.

“Hm… What about right here, right now?”

Before those words register fully in Eren’s mind, Willy closes the distance between their lips. Eren is as sweet as he always imagined. When Willy pulls back, he’s greeted with possibly the cutest expression he has ever seen on Eren’s face.

“Y-you…” Eren stammers.

“You promised you won’t be embarrassed,” Willy reminds him with a wide grin.

Eren looks like he wants to hit Willy. But instead of doing so, he kisses Willy like a soft flutter of a butterfly’s wing. 

Eight months was a long time to wait.

But just a bit, Willy thinks it was all worth it.

_Fin._

**Author's Note:**

> “Huh? To Paradis? But that’s so far away! For how long? If it’s going to last more than three months, I’m going to put my foot down.”
> 
> Eren rolls his eyes at Willy’s childishness.
> 
> “It’s to check in on the kids and make sure they’re still alive. And if they’re anywhere close to finishing their mission, bring them home. I’m sure it won’t take as long as five years-”
> 
> “You’re leaving me for five years?!”
> 
> Now Willy’s just being annoying on purpose. Eren shoots him a dirty look and receives a sheepish grin in return.
> 
> “I just… worry,” Willy mumbles. “What if you find someone really cool inside the walls and forget all about me?”
> 
> Not “what if you get hurt” or “what if the mission stretches on too long” or even “what if those kids switched sides.” But that Eren will find someone new. Like hell Eren will even have the time to talk to the locals when he’d be much too busy dealing with whatever surprise is waiting for them on that damned island.
> 
> “Worry about something more realistic,” Eren scolds him.
> 
> There’s a small pause before Willy grins like Eren just walked into a trap. 
> 
> “Something more realistic… like someone else realizing how cute you are and locking you up?”
> 
> Hmph. Like hell Eren will be embarrassed by something so cheesy. He isn’t a kid anymore, you know. He has inherited a titan and is now a full fledged Warrior. Willy can’t catch him in a trap that easily.
> 
> “I’d just break out. More realistic,” Eren argues.
> 
> Willy seems to think hard about that. Yeah, that’s right. There’s actually nothing to worry about, you dolt. Just trust Eren and-
> 
> “What about me missing you so much that I just fall over dead?”
> 
> “W-whua…?! T-that won’t happen! That’s too ridiculous!”
> 
> Willy clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “It is not! It is a very legitimate fear! I almost died in the three months you left me for the last mission!”
> 
> I-is that really possible? Did Eren really almost make Willy die? But it’s not like there’s much that Eren can do when this is an order from the top. 
> 
> Eren rubs the back of his neck, feeling frustrated. There has to be something he can do or say to at least alleviate Willy’s worry, right? 
> 
> “I’ll… make it up to you,” he says finally.
> 
> Willy’s eyes twinkle with mischief. “Oh?”
> 
> “S-so you’re not allowed to die until I return, got it? I’ll p-prepare a really nice treat.”
> 
> The smile on Willy’s face is sweet. It makes Eren almost accuse him of yanking Eren around. But this kind of childish side to Willy is also something that Eren really likes. Not that he’ll ever be able to admit that out loud without becoming too flustered.
> 
> “Then I’ll be good and wait.”
> 
> Perhaps by then, Eren will be able to tell Willy all the things he loves about him.


End file.
